Various environmental oceanic factors, such as ocean waves, affect seabird ecology; ocean waves are important, as most flying seabirds must land on ocean surfaces for foraging. However, the global ocean wave observation network is spatiotemporally poor compared to other parameters; fine-scale information on wave conditions is limited, and the influence of wave conditions on seabirds has not been quantitatively studied. In this study, a method was developed to estimate ocean waves from the fine-scale motions of seabirds floating on the sea surface, as recorded by a global positioning system (single-point positioning). Ocean wave parameters, estimated from streaked shearwater around the eastern ocean of Japan, strongly corresponded with the observation results of a buoy, with an accuracy of <0.3 m for wave heights of 1.0–2.5 m. Furthermore, wave height estimated from streaked shearwaters and wandering albatrosses around the southern Indian Ocean significantly correlated with hindcast-model values. Bird-based wave observation methods are valuable not only in seabird ecology but also in oceanography as an in-situ observation system. Based on the results of bird-based wave observations, the preferences of wandering albatrosses under various wave conditions were further examined. Anecdotal studies suggest that seabirds prefer low-wave conditions to forage in because of prey visibility; however, wandering albatrosses landed on the sea surface randomly, even on very high waves (5–6 m), revealing their tolerance to ocean surface conditions. Considering the effect of environmental factors on marine animals, increased inclusion of previously ignored parameters in analysis, such as ocean waves, is essential.

海浪等各种环境海洋因素影响海鸟生态；海浪很重要，因为大多数飞行的海鸟必须降落在海面觅食。然而，与其他参数相比，全球海浪观测网络在时空上较差；海浪条件的精细尺度信息有限，并且没有定量研究海浪条件对海鸟的影响。在这项研究中，开发了一种方法，根据全球定位系统（单点定位）记录的漂浮在海面上的海鸟的精细运动来估计海浪。从日本东部大洋周围的条纹剪切水估计的海浪参数与浮标的观测结果强烈对应，对于 1.0-2.5 m 的波高精度<0.3 m。此外，从南印度洋周围的条纹剪切水和游荡信天翁估计的波高与后报模型值显着相关。基于鸟类的波浪观测方法不仅在海鸟生态学方面具有价值，而且作为一种原位观测系统在海洋学中也很有价值。根据基于鸟类的波浪观测结果，进一步研究了流浪信天翁在各种波浪条件下的偏好。轶事研究表明，由于猎物的能见度，海鸟更喜欢低波条件下觅食；然而，流浪的信天翁随机降落在海面上，即使是在非常高的海浪（5-6 m）上，表明它们对海面条件的耐受性。考虑到环境因素对海洋动物的影响，在分析中增加了以前被忽略的参数，